City Council - Regular Meeting

It is uh 7 o'clock and I'm going to call this meeting to order. Good evening ladies and gentlemen, council members, city officials. Welcome to the March 9, 2026 regular city council meeting. We are meeting at 26 South Pain Street, Chilikathy, Ohio. And I would ask the clerk to call the role. Thank you, President Shoemaker. Bennett, present. Payne McCart here. Barnes here. McKver here. Dement here. Preston here. Done here. Creed here.

Uh, Councilman Member Payne informed me that she would not be in attendance this evening. Is there a motion to excuse her from tonight's meeting? Motion by Miss Bennett, second by Mr. Dement, and the clerk will call the role. Bennett, yes. McCort, yes. Barnes, yes. McKver, yes. Dement, yes. Preston, yes. Done, yes. Creed, yes.

Miss Payne is excused. Um, I would ask Miss Bennett to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

The minutes from the uh February 23, 2026 meeting been distributed. Are there any additions, deletions, or corrections? Hearing none. Is there a motion to approve the minutes? Uh motion by Miss Dunn, second by Mr. McCquort, and the clerk will call a roll. Bennett, yes. McCques, yes. McKver, yes. Yes. Preston, yes. Done. Creed, yes. The minutes are approved. Uh now we'll move to reports of committees. Development committee Mr. Demit.

Thank you President Shoemaker. Development has nothing on tonight's agenda and nothing to report. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you. Engineering Committee. Miss Dunn. We have nothing on the agenda and nothing to report this evening. Thank you. Finance and Technology Committee. Mr. Creed. Thank you, President Shoemaker. We have nothing to report this evening. Thank you. Human Resources Committee, Miss Payne, she is not here, but as I understand it, Mr. Dement has something to report on her behalf.

Thank you, President Shoemaker. The human resources committee met on Monday, March 2nd to discuss assignment 260006, the appropriations of funds in the amount of approximately 57,000 for the establishment of a new standardized timekeeping system for the city of Chilikathy. All three members voted to pass for full council review. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you, Parks and Rec Committee. Mr. Barnes. Thank you, President Shoemaker. I have nothing new to report. Thank you, safety service committee. Miss Preston.

Thank you, President Shoemaker. Uh, we have nothing to report at this time. Utilities Committee, Mr. McKver. Thank you, President Shoemaker. Utilities has nothing to report. Thank you, City Services Committee. Mr. McCquart.

Thank you, President Shoemaker. Um this evening we had two meetings for um issue 26-010 uh appropriation of funds for repair administration building HVAC system in the amount of $35,000 which all three committee members approved to go to full council review and then 26-009 um update of transit procurement policy in which all three uh committee members approved for go forward with council review. And that's all I have to report.

Thank you. Uh community affairs committee, Miss Bennett. Thank you, President Shoemaker. Uh we have just gotten some emails and I know that uh Greg McKver has went to the some of the meetings about the homeless um things. I would like for Kennedy if she would like to post the standown event. It's going to be this Wednesday tomorrow at Salvation Army 171 East 4th Street from 10 to 2. The standown is in homeless event and it's going to have all the resources, food, support, clothing. Actually, Kennedy, I don't even know if you'd have time to post it. Maybe put it up tonight.

Okay, that'd be fantastic. Um, also that they um Greg just was telling or reported that the homeless task force that they've been trying to get in place, we were hoping to be in place by February. They're still working on that. So, Greg, did you have anything else you wanted to report from that meeting? No, you pretty much covered it all. Thank you. That's the end of our report.

Thank you. Now, we'll now move to reports of officials. Mayor Phoenix Thank you, President Shoemaker. Uh few few items to touch on tonight. Uh the first of which I'm going to bring to your attention. Uh I believe information was emailed out to council. Uh but just to catch everybody up, we had a significant fire, complete loss, um at a flood wall pump station in the park. Um the revised code 735.051 051 uh allows city council to wave our traditional formal bid process uh in state of an emergency. We reached out to the um law director's office. They verified our ability to do this. uh if the bid is put out by the safety service director, I'm sorry, if the quotes are solicited by the safety service director and twothirds of all elected members of council vote to pass that. The the big question here, I think in my mind there's a couple. One is insurance is paying footing this bill. Uh but we will come to council asking for an appropriation um once we have a good number on quotes. I think we're going to be in the ballpark of $450, $500,000. Um, and so there will be an appropriation that follows, but uh what we're asking for today is um a motion from council an approval of waving um that requirement because of this emergency. What is it going to do for us? It's going to speed up the process 60 to 90 days. and knowing what we know about supply chains and um lead time and

electric components, that sort of thing. Um that could be really significant. Uh you know, we are in a rainy season now and we're paying for a temporary pump. Um but we really want this to be back and operational by fall when it gets really rainy um again and uh not have this be something that gets pushed out into next year. Um and so we've used this before. It's a pretty uh rare occurrence, but um in this situation, we will still get multiple quotes. We just won't go through the formal uh bid process. So, I I'm happy to try to attempt uh to answer any questions on that. Uh but that's that's the the motion that I'm requesting from council tonight. We verified as well that it did not need uh an ordinance or resolution, just a a motion and a vote from council uh tonight. Um and then beyond that, the two things I wanted to touch on are really one just really big messy thing and that is traffic and construction. Uh Clint Bogs reported last meeting I think mostly around the ODOT construction which has been um pushed back about a week uh or two weeks now to the 22nd is when it'll start. I think you've seen the diagrams. We're going to continue to try and push out that information. Um, but it's just going to be a big headache for a long time and uh, you know, not being able to go southbound on portions of Bridge Street, having to make, you know, an extra 15, 20 minutes to be prepared to loop around. The best advice I can give you is, um, to go to our Facebook page or ODOT's Facebook page or website to look for the diagrams and and sort of adjust your personal routes accordingly depending on what side of town you're coming from and that sort of thing. um you could kind of see uh how things got better when they paused construction um during the holidays and how you know we had lanes open again. So I would just uh encourage our residents to be

optimistic and I thank them in in advance for their patience um because it will be a tough a tough time uh for the next uh through fall really. And then the second item of construction is right here in town. Uh um and it will start uh a week from today on the 16th and that is the construction of the the um traffic circle roundabout at the intersection of Yaktangian Mill. Um this is the only one that's coming uh out of the Appalachian Community Grant Project. Just a quick rundown. I know there were some questions banded about about why we're doing this and how long it'll take and that sort of thing. So from our um just just going 30,000 feet roundabouts um just thinking about why we recommended them, why the school district supported them in this case. Um a traditional intersection has 32 um conflict points. Roundabout has eight. Um I think that you know learning about roundabouts I think that the school district support in particular sort of goes to the safety aspects. Uh we've all seen some of the bad accidents that have happened. one here pretty recently uh at that intersection. But at the end of the day, um roundabouts dramatically reduce speed, they shorten crossings, uh the conflict points that I that they reduce like I mentioned, um eliminate some dangerous turns and improve visibility. So those are sort of the basics of roundabouts. I think you know we are in a rural part of the state that has more um you know on highways than perhaps um in town. Uh, and you know, I know lots of people say they don't like roundabouts. I don't know a lot of people that wake up in the morning say, "I love red lights or I love stop signs." Uh, you know, inanimate objects in general, uh, or especially when it comes to traffic, are generally disliked. Um, but we're confident that

this will be a a a very, um, significant safety uh, measure for that area. Um, one of the things, the easiest way I can explain it to anybody is that um, for for vehicular traffic, you eliminate the possibility of a T-bone. Uh, which is, you know, high risk of high injury, high risk of death. Uh, and that that risk just goes away. Um, you cannot fly through a roundabout, right? So that the speed goes down um and the trajectory of accidents. And then for pedestrians, what a lot of folks, you know, might not think about is that it it reduces the intersection from being essentially uh students needing to look or pedestrians in general needing to look two ways to cross something uh basically to one. And that that can be a significant uh safety improvement as well. The last thing that I'll say to sort of um add on to this is a reminder uh that several years ago we were awarded a safe routes to school um grant from ODOT for this uh corridor. Something that's been sort of in the wings for a while. Part of the impetus for it was when the school district had planned on building a new facility north of the gym parking lot. Uh that that was a part of a conversation ways back. uh our plan we still plan to go forward with that um project and that project will also enhance um the other intersections uh that are not Yak Tangian Mill but in this corridor. So um something sometimes it can be hard to realize that these are these are part of bigger plans. Uh but the project starts next Monday. Southbound traffic on Yakangi will be closed starting Monday. We've coordinated with the school district uh their buses, they know the travel cycle. Um you will still be able to go northbound on Yakangi uh to get up to

the schools. One of the reasons we um went made it just one way north had a lot to do with northbound safety traffic, both police and fire, uh needing to go north, especially driving towards Adena, that type of thing. Um and so that starts next week. Uh, and then it will remain that way through the end of the school year. At the end of the school year, the entire intersection will be closed. So, um, I'm going to leave town for about 3 months until this project's over. Uh, you guys might just want to avoid the interse. But between that between that and uh just getting familiar with navigating roads of town, um, take a minute. So, uh, again, diagrams on Facebook, um, and our our website and of course just encouraging, um, your patience in advance. Um, I think that's probably enough for tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, I I received a message from the auditor's office. Uh, they will not have anyone any in attendance tonight, but we turn to the law director and Mr. Anastasia. Uh thank you, President Shoemaker. Uh the uh law director's office continues um so the latest uh to educate and familiarize ourselves with uh the implementation of oral fluid testing as part of an OVI enforcement. So this is modern technology being utilized uh by law enforcement agencies across the state as an additional tool to detect impaired drivers and enhance roadway safety. So, our office is working closely with the Ohio State Highway Patrol and other partners to understand the procedures, training, and evidentiary standards associated with this testing method. This goal is the goal is to ensure that this technology is used effectively and appropriately to help protect our community, help protect uh safety on the roads. And I know uh the law director and I are going to a a training uh which will involve more in depth on that. I've already been to a meeting with um people at OS uh HP as well as a touring the I believe it's um oh at the evidence at the evidence room but the uh where they do the uh analysis um of these sorts of things which I'm kind of looking forward to. So that's what we're doing. Thank you.

Thank you. Next we'll go to audience participation. Any person wishing to address the council must first provide his or her name and address. Comments shall be limited to 5 minutes and I'll give you a warning when there is one minute remaining.

Push the if you there's a button there that there you are.

Hi, my name is Tammy Simpkins. My address is 881 West Bury Street Coffee. I'm here to talk about a roundabout. Apparently, you guys have already made your your decision and that you're going to um not change it. I was hoping that you would reconsider and think about how much chaos that's going to cause during the school year, you know. Um but I would like since it sounds to me like you're not going to change your mind. Um because I had asked that Gunner put something forward to at least postpone this. A lot of people are really concerned with all the traffic and especially with pedestrians. I'd like to know what are the plans for the pedestrians um during construction and then after construction. Where where where can I find that information? What is the that plan?

I would like to say one thing since I did talk with you about it and I also talked with the mayor's office about it. M um there you know I think probably during the construction and the chaos you're concerned about is is a worthy concern and I have asked them to see what they can do about making sure there is extra security around to make sure that the children are safe during that process. M so I'm sure that you know they have comments as well but I wanted you know I I feel certain that

they will do everything to maintain a safe environment for the children who might be in that construction area that are used to walking there. So I understand your concerns but is there in the plans do they show where where the pedestrians are going to cross and everything with this walk roundabout that's going to be there? We're talking always about safety on the road itself. And I'm not disputing that. I don't like a roundabout. That's something completely new to me. I'm not gonna I'm no expert on the roads, anything like that. I'm not talking about roads. I'm talking about pedestrians. So that's my question. Thank you.

So once the roundabouts are done, um like the mayor talked about, instead of having 32 conflict points, you only got eight. So it's safer for pedestrians when they're trying to cross. They don't have to look at where they're crossing, look at vehicles turning right, turning left. and instead of having to cross five lanes of traffic, they cross one lane of traffic looking one direction, they go to a pedestrian island and then they cross another lane of traffic looking one way again and not having to look other directions and then they're across. So from that standpoint, it's safer and all the studies that we looked at during this process when we decided to do this um focused on that safety point as far as it does reduce pedestrian accidents when we do it. Uh obviously there's a learning curve and the schools supported this and I think the schools will be part of that learning process for us.

Okay. So so to be clear then the plan is to have pedestrians cross within that roundabout not on the edges they're going to go through it. No they're about is it 30 ft back from the 20 or 30 ft back from the actual roundabout is where they cross at. So that's in the plan solid. Yes. Okay. Yes.

Well, I know that a lot of people in the community are very concerned and and so that's why I'm here today and I appreciate you answering me and Gunner and you as well, Kathy back um doesn't change my mind. I guess I'm not going to change you all's mind either. So, but I'm glad that the kids are number one and the other pedestrians as well. Thank you for your time even though I'm not getting anything that I came here to get today. Thank you.

If there's no other uh audience participation, um we'll move to old business. Uh is there any old business to come before council? Hearing none, I'd move to petitions and correspondence. Thank you, President Shoemaker. I've not received anything. Uh moving to new business. Uh we will need a motion to wave the public bidding of Mr. Creed. Uh second by Ms. Dunn. Um and um the clerk will call the role relative to the waiver uh of the bidding on u the fire situation that the mayor described. Bennett, yes. McCort, yes.

Barnes, yes. McKver, yes. Dement, yes. Preston, yes. Dun, yes. Creed, yes. Having received a twothirds vote, uh, the, uh, waiver is approved. Um, next we'll move to the reading. Uh, unless there is other new business to come before council,

I'd like to take a a minute to say I appreciate you sharing your concerns, Miss Simpson uh Simpkins. Um, I think that, you know, a lot of people will be happy in the end, but in the beginning, it'll be a learning curve like uh Mr. Creed said. I'd also like to take a minute to thank uh Dr. Natalie Baldwin who um earlier or late last year we approved um legislation to allow a veterinarian practice there at 36 South Walnut Street and um that's going to be called Best Friends Animal Hospital. But I wanted to take a minute to thank her and other veterinarians in this area. And my understanding is that um she's spayed and neutered over 30 cats in the last, you know, month or so for a local nonprofit and that uh that was an unselfish thing to do and it it helps our community and makes a difference in our community when we have professionals that do these things. So, I wanted to um make a statement uh thanking her and other veterinarians in our in our area that do these kinds of services because we do have a feral cat problem in Chilowthy. That's pretty immense and and uh um to offer that free service was was very good. So, thank you.

Thank you. Is there any other new business come before council? If not, we will move to the reading of uh I was going to say ordinances and resolutions, but I guess I'll say resolution. Uh so we'll move to that right now. Thank you, President Shoemaker. This evening, we have one item on the agenda. It is a third reading of a resolution authorizing the disposal of municipal property that is not needed for public use or is obsolete or unfit for the use for which it was acquired in accordance with Ohio Revised Code section 721.15 by way of auction. And the clerk will call the role. Bennett, yes. McCort, yes. Barnes,

yes. Dement. Yes. Preston, yes. Done. Yes. Creed. Yes. Resolution is adopted. If there's no other business come before council tonight, I would accept a motion to adjourn by Miss Bennett, second by Mr. Barnes, and the clerk will call the role. Bennett, yes. McCort, yes. Barnes, yes. McKver, yes. Dement, yes. Preston, yes. Dunn, yes.

Creed, yes. We are ajourned. Thank you.